I recently sat down with Charles Jimerson who is not only a good friend but co-founder and managing shareholder of Jimerson & Cobb, P.A. Charles, aka Charlie, served in the U.S. military while simultaneously receiving his undergrad degree. He then went on to get his Juris Doctorate at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and has practiced law since 2006. He is a guy that walks the walk and in 2018 was named by The Business Journals as one of the Top 100 Most Influential Attorneys in Law and Business in the United States. I was so excited to talk to this powerhouse and discuss New Year’s Resolutions, the importance of positivity, and goal setting for your personal and professional life.

Difference Between Resolutions and Goals

While similar in nature, Charlie suggests that instead of just having resolutions you should have a goal with trajectories and clear milestones on how to obtain it and believes that the “power is going to be in the follow through”. Charlie himself has made resolutions every year since he was 15 and is a big fan of creating a business plan every year – specifically business oriented resolutions.

SMART Goals

Charlie recommends that people make SMART goals. If you are unfamiliar with that, it is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. He believes you are more apt to accomplish your resolutions if you create them this way.

Specific: Set a goal that is measurable and think specifically about what are you trying to achieve. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to get what you want. For example being happier is not a measurable goal however eating vegetables twice a day is.

Measurable: Have milestones along the way. For example if you want to lose 20 pounds in a year that’s 1.6 pounds each month.

Achievable: The goal has to be within reach and something you can actually accomplish so you don’t set yourself up for failure or disappointment.

Relevant: Think about why you are setting this goal and if it’s relevant to the ultimate destination.

Time bound: Tie yourself into a specific timeframe and set a deadline that you are constantly working towards.

Focus on Accentuating Your Positives

Charlie recommended this exercise to help you focus on what you what you are good at: choose 3 things that you’re as skilled or more skilled at than anyone else at your company. Why are you good at these things? How can you get any better? What outside forces get in the way of you getting better? What resources do you need to get better? How would your life and career change if you focused on just these 3 things? After you have written down these things, think about what you can do to reorient your life to focus on those skills. Another good exercise is to list 5 things you hate to do. After you have them written out think about which 1 you can delegate or outsource.

The moral of the story is to focus on what you love and are good at, and for the things you aren’t good at or don’t enjoy, see if someone else can do them for you. You will get so much more energy and work done if you focus on your strengths instead of the things that drain you.

The Power of Positive Thinking

When I asked him what he is going to do differently in 2019 than 2018 he said that in the past he had allowed himself to be influenced by the squeakiest wheel and this year will incorporate a matrix on how he spends his time and makes decisions. He plans to employ a 10/10/10 decision making tool which is where you ask yourself:

How will I feel about it 10 minutes from now?

How about 10 months from now?

How about 10 years from now?

He also wants to be contagiously positive and uplift those around him. The way he plans to accomplish this is by having what he calls “time-outs” throughout his day in which he will take a breath, regroup and gearshift to be more positive.

I hope these tips and exercises help you make 2019 your best year yet! My thanks again to Charlie who gave us some great advice and insight on how to improve your professional and personal life. If you’d like to listen to the full podcast you can do so on petethejobguy.com or on iTunes by simply searching Pete the Job Guy for this and all of my other episodes.

Pete Langlois

Pete Langlois is the Chief Sales Officer at GEE Group. His blog leverages his decades of experience in hiring, training and retaining top talent and covers trends and issues of interest to employers and job candidates alike.

Full biography

Pete Langlois is the Chief Sales Officer at GEE Group. His blog leverages his decades of experience in hiring, training and retaining top talent and covers trends and issues of interest to employers and job candidates alike.

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Faith Hines

2/4/2019 5:19 AM

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